15th of August 1769: birth of Napoleone di Buonaparte

Napoleon Bonaparte birth baptismal certificate

On that day, Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, was born Napoleon Bonaparte, or rather Napoleone di Buonaparte, according to his baptismal certificate, at Ajaccio, in Corsica. The island had become a French territory only a year earlier.

Letizia Ramolino Bonaparte

The baby was the fourth child and third son of Attorney Carlo Maria di Buonaparte, age 23, and his wife, Maria Letizia Ramolino, who would turn 19 a few days later. Both father and mother were of Italian descent and members of the island’s minor nobility.

Charles Bonaparte Carlo di Buonaparte

Letizia, considered one of the great beauties of Corsica, transmitted her blue eyes and iron will, both apparent on this youthful portrait, to that child of hers.